Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just acquired a rescue yesterday and I'm wondering what type of
milk snake she is, if any of you could be so kind as to help me identify her. I am new to milk snakes, but not snakes in general. I have read that she can be kept on most any substrate, barring ones with aromatic oils of course, and am keeping her on a sand substrate at the moment, the one she came to me with. She has a 60 watt light on her for heat during the day, our house stays at a comfortable 70 to 75 at night at all times of the year. She came to us from the owners sister who said that she had taken her to give away due to lack of care. She has no idea how old the snake is, and informed me that her sister had been feeding her "maybe once a month". I am twitching at this idea right now. She has been exposed to both live and f/t food, I intend to feed her f/t from here on out. Fuzzy mice have been her diet previously, which are about 1 to 1 1/2 times the size of her widest girth point. She ate yesterday before she was brought to us. Should she be fed once or twice a week? I have found conflicting answers on this and would like to come to the source so to speak for something a little more concrete. I give her 12 hours of light a day and she has two hides, one on each end of the cage. I am under the understanding that these guys are crepsicular (sp?) and that a day/night cycle while not required per se, is a good idea to keep them on a good rhythm for feeding, waking, sleeping, etc. Is this correct? Or should I switch to a non-light emitting heat source? I intend to buy her the zoo med sand that can hold up to tunneling and excavation, as she LOVES to bury herself, so this will prevent me from using an undertank heater, as the company itself states in regards to their product. She is in a 10 gallon tank at the moment, but I have a 55 gallon opening up in a few days that I intend to put her in so she has all the room she will need as an adult. Thanks for the help everyone!

Link

Messed up on the link, still trying to figure out this whole photo posting thing.

Sorry for the previous goofs, my comp was being screwy last night. Once again, could someone possibly help me identify Precious? Thanks so much.

Julie

Hello Julie,

glad you got the pics up after that struggle. Been there, done that lol. Again, I'm going with a nelsoni, a.k.a. the nelson's milksnake.

Jerry Kruse

Hi,
She looks a little bigger than our Annulata, but I feed him once a week, he eats 2 or 3 f/t fuzzies.
I would ditch the sand, maybe go with aspen shavings or or something else non-harmful. I have a more naturalistic setup, and use cactus potting soil with a few other ingredients mixed in, as well as a few plants. Get an undertank heater or some heat tape as well.
Good luck with your new addition, she is very pretty. Any idea how old?

Paul
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L. annulata
Naturalistic vivarium with BSS

We do not know old she is, previous owner didnt know, her sister guessed that it was young, due to the size, but she also said due to the owner massively underfeeding it (once a month, sometimes less), that it could be older but stunted. Could you tell me why I should not be using sand, and why I need heat from underneath when I already have it coming from above? Thanks!

Julie

Sand is fine substrate actually and makes the environment appear far more natural than aspen or recycled paper -however- the drawback to sand is the weight but you seem to have very nice setup for a single natural type cage. The major health issue with sand is the snake ingesting it and eventually accumulating enough to cause an impaction. It's real and does happen and is well documented in Doug Mader's second edition of Reptile Medicine and Surgery but is very easy to avoid by either feeding the snake on a sheet of newspaper in the cage or feeding in a separate cage. No reason to avoid it completely.
Aspen also gets ingested and causes problems which are avoided by the methods cited above. I feed on sheets of cardboard that stay in every cage above the aspen.
The heat issue is different for everyone. I keep the snake room at 80 day and night, year 'round but supply a higher heat with tapes for the gravid females that occasionally have issues with digesting large meals in the spring during their feeding frenzy.
A warmer area of 85 and a cool area of 75 will allow the snake to find its comfort zone for digesting or snoozing but 80 is (in general) the magic temp for milks and kings.
Welcome to the forums, hope you enjoy visiting and posting...
Jeff

>>Sand is fine substrate actually and makes the environment appear far more natural than aspen or recycled paper -however- the drawback to sand is the weight but you seem to have very nice setup for a single natural type cage. The major health issue with sand is the snake ingesting it and eventually accumulating enough to cause an impaction. It's real and does happen and is well documented in Doug Mader's second edition of Reptile Medicine and Surgery but is very easy to avoid by either feeding the snake on a sheet of newspaper in the cage or feeding in a separate cage. No reason to avoid it completely.
>>Aspen also gets ingested and causes problems which are avoided by the methods cited above. I feed on sheets of cardboard that stay in every cage above the aspen.
>>The heat issue is different for everyone. I keep the snake room at 80 day and night, year 'round but supply a higher heat with tapes for the gravid females that occasionally have issues with digesting large meals in the spring during their feeding frenzy.
>>A warmer area of 85 and a cool area of 75 will allow the snake to find its comfort zone for digesting or snoozing but 80 is (in general) the magic temp for milks and kings.
>>Welcome to the forums, hope you enjoy visiting and posting...
>>Jeff

I don't like sand as a substrate, its gets everywhere and needs to be cleaned/replaced often, it holds smells and I feel it isn't sanitary. Personally if you need a "natural like" substrate I would stick with aspen.

Me I like newspaper for adults and paper towels for yearling/neonates. Easy to spot if it needs cleaning, holds moisture and odor very well no chance of ingestion, basically free and easy to clean up.
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Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."

I've never fed my snakes inside their cages personally, I prefer a separate "feed box". So I suppose that isnt a concern with the sand for me. Thanks for the info!

Julie

Good points have been made by all posters,....here's another one to be aware of..........since you keep your home at a fairly cool temp., and depending where in the country you live, this combined with the "overhead" heat source, could become an issue when it's time for the snake to shed.

Especially when you see the snakes eyes becoming cloudy and blue in preparation to shed, make sure that the snake has enough humidity in it's environment to shed completely. This will happen(depending on activity level) approx. 3-7 days AFTER the eyes have cleared completely.
If it is too dry, snakes can have big problems if the old shed is left on the animal, especially the tip of the tail, and eye caps(ocular lenses).......if these are not shed, it can cause more problems than you could imagine.

During the shed cycle, you can raise the humidity several ways;.......put a large water bowl in the cage with just a portion of the top exposed, and cover the rest with plastic, or anything similar to retain the moisture. Also, you can(even in conjunction with) put some very moist paper, or moss in the corner of the cage to raise humidity, and not get the stuff all over the place.

I personally like underneath heat sources as opposed to lights and such from above, as this can dry the environment more, and also for the fact that heat rises anyway.

A thick layer of the sand you are using will probably prevent the heat from rising efficiently into the bottom substrate however.

In any case, be aware of these things pertaining to the snakes shedding fully, as this is EXTREMELY important.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"